https://www.scmp.com/rss/321775/feed Dr Winnie Tang JP is an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong. She is a pioneer in bringing the geographic information system technology to Hong Kong. Over the years, she has been actively advocating the use of technology in e-health, environmental conservation and education. She also founded the Smart City Consortium and Esri China (Hong Kong) Limited. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com On February 27, the demonstration flight of an air taxi from Shenzhen to Zhuhai took just 20 minutes, faster than the three-hour journey by land. If the service is approved for operation, a one-way ticket is estimated to cost up to 300 yuan (US$42) per passenger. This would mean a more comfortable, faster and still affordable option for residents within the Greater Bay Area development zone. Consulting firm McKinsey estimates that we will need at least 60,000 new air taxi pilots worldwide by... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3255346/how-hong-kong-can-encourage-next-generation-problem-solvers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3255346/how-hong-kong-can-encourage-next-generation-problem-solvers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Mar 2024 05:30:19 +0000 Could there be a time when the commute between Hong Kong and Shenzhen takes only 10 minutes? When tourists could enjoy a 20-minute unmanned air tour of Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau? Or for Hongkongers to receive deliveries from Shenzhen’s megastores within 30 minutes? Hong Kong has been trying to revive its post-pandemic economy but progress has been slowed by the global downturn. What new thinking is there to help boost our economy? On the mainland, the “low-altitude economy” – economic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3253263/flying-taxis-hong-kong-how-kick-start-our-low-altitude-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3253263/flying-taxis-hong-kong-how-kick-start-our-low-altitude-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Feb 2024 12:00:12 +0000 Winnie Tang Winnie Tang The Bauhinia x blakeana orchid tree, whose flower is Hong Kong’s emblem, is found all over the city. It is also among the trees most affected by Hong Kong’s extreme weather. Since 2019, it is among the top tree species suffering from weather damage and has lost at least 485 trees this year, the biggest toll, the government revealed last month. In second place with at least 421 damaged trees is the Acacia confusa, introduced to the city around 1939 as part of a forestation plan. The acacia has... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3245496/hong-kong-needs-smarter-biodiversity-management-trees-wetlands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3245496/hong-kong-needs-smarter-biodiversity-management-trees-wetlands?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Dec 2023 12:30:11 +0000 A recent study from OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania found that OpenAI’s latest language-processing model GPT-4 could most affect educated, white-collar workers earning around US$80,000 a year in the US workforce, including financial analysts, accountants and writers. No wonder parents around the world are pessimistic about the next generation’s financial future. A 2022 survey by the Pew Research Centre found that a median of 70 per cent of adults across 19 countries – including Japan,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3219101/amid-rise-ai-lean-empathy-and-update-education-keep-humans-edge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3219101/amid-rise-ai-lean-empathy-and-update-education-keep-humans-edge?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 May 2023 09:41:46 +0000 Computing power has become a core driver of the development of the digital economy. The white paper on China’s computing power development index released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology in November last year estimates that every yuan invested in computing power would increase economic output by three to four yuan. Moreover, computing power has a significant correlation with gross domestic product. Of the top 20 countries by computing power in 2021, 17 are among... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3212793/hong-kongs-supercomputing-centre-plans-must-be-strategic-succeed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3212793/hong-kongs-supercomputing-centre-plans-must-be-strategic-succeed?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Mar 2023 22:15:09 +0000 Falling trees and branches have crushed cars and killed people in recent months, making this urban hazard a public concern again. The Tree Management Office (TMO) was established under the Development Bureau in 2010 to coordinate departmental tree maintenance. However, accidents involving falling trees have been a regular occurrence for years. Why does this continue? Is it because of insufficient staffing or advanced technology? Rather, the cause could be poor internal coordination. Different... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3202243/hong-kong-can-prevent-deaths-falling-trees-better-government-coordination?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3202243/hong-kong-can-prevent-deaths-falling-trees-better-government-coordination?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:15:09 +0000 In recent years, a new concept for making urban areas greener and more liveable has emerged: the 15-minute city. It allows city dwellers to access most, if not all, of their daily amenities, including work and school, by taking just a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their home. The idea has swept across China and cites around the world, including Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Melbourne, Ottawa and Portland. Could it also one day be implemented in Hong Kong? The C40, a global network of nearly 100... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3195941/15-minute-city-offers-climate-and-people-friendly-urban-living-can?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3195941/15-minute-city-offers-climate-and-people-friendly-urban-living-can?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Oct 2022 00:15:07 +0000 Even as the government is formulating a youth development blueprint, the latest news about young people is worrying. First, the youth workforce in Hong Kong has been shrinking considerably. According to Census and Statistics Department data, the city’s population fell by 1.6 per cent between mid-2021 and mid-2022. A report in Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao noted that the labour force aged 20 to 24 dropped sharply, by 23.4 per cent, in the first six months of 2022, while workers aged 25 to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3193805/three-ways-hong-kong-can-nurture-its-youth-bright-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3193805/three-ways-hong-kong-can-nurture-its-youth-bright-future?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Sep 2022 22:45:12 +0000 If someone has said, back in 1992, that the internet would be indispensable in the future, and that every student would need to master certain computer skills to complete school assignments and even attend virtual classes, many would have considered it a fantasy. Thirty years later, that fantasy is a reality. If we had fully embraced the technology, allocated sufficient resources to train talent, and seized the global market, would Hong Kong be a different, stronger place today? Farsightedness... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3190529/become-smart-city-hong-kong-needs-more-young-people-study?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3190529/become-smart-city-hong-kong-needs-more-young-people-study?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Aug 2022 22:45:21 +0000 While President Xi Jinping’s July 1 visit to Hong Kong was a clear sign of the city’s enduring importance to the central government and to China as a whole, the emigration of some 25,000 primary and secondary students in the 2020/21 academic year, according to local media estimates, casts a shadow over Hong Kong’s future prospects. Still, some 6 or 7 million people remain in Hong Kong with no immediate plans to leave, and we must keep it that way. Indeed, if we strive to make Hong Kong a more... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3186768/hong-kong-must-deepen-links-shenzhen-retain-and-attract?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3186768/hong-kong-must-deepen-links-shenzhen-retain-and-attract?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Jul 2022 01:15:12 +0000 On July 1, President Xi Jinping put forward four proposals for Hong Kong which I am confident can be realised through innovation and technology. First, to “improve the level of governance” as Xi said, providing civil servants with the latest technology, and training on how to get the most out of it, is a must. One tool that can be adopted to boost government “capacity and efficacy” is common spatial data infrastructure (CSDI), developed by the Development Bureau and expected to be launched at... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3185267/technology-key-achieving-xis-jinpings-four-goals-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3185267/technology-key-achieving-xis-jinpings-four-goals-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Jul 2022 22:45:18 +0000 Over the past few decades, Singapore has grown from one of the four Asian tiger economies into a veritable cosmopolitan city. It has topped global rankings of smart cities and technological hubs, and, after Israel, it has the most unicorns – start-up companies valued at or over US$1 billion – per person in the world. There is much Hong Kong can learn from Singapore’s success. First, multiply resources. Like Hong Kong, Singapore is a coastal city with a rather limited land area. To overcome this... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3178169/what-makes-singapore-successful-smart-city-and-how-hong-kong-can?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3178169/what-makes-singapore-successful-smart-city-and-how-hong-kong-can?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 May 2022 01:15:14 +0000 The Northern Metropolis, a planned development near the mainland border, is not only key to integrating Hong Kong into the Greater Bay Area, but an ideal place to implement sustainable low-carbon living, focusing in particular on transport. In recent years, the number of private cars in the city has been growing, while passenger traffic volume on public transport has declined. Over the past 10 years, the number of licensed private cars has increased by 40 per cent. By contrast, government data... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3167124/hong-kongs-northern-metropolis-must-prioritise-green-public?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3167124/hong-kongs-northern-metropolis-must-prioritise-green-public?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Feb 2022 22:45:16 +0000 The Correctional Services Department (CSD) is facing numerous challenges, including ageing facilities, a high staff turnover and handling highly educated young people remanded into custody. To create greater value for all, here are three suggestions to address these issues. First, build a smart “superjail” that would also release about 100 hectares (247 acres) of land. The department has already built one smart prison, which opened in May, at the site of the Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3152971/how-smart-super-prison-can-help-hong-kongs-wayward-youth-and-add?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3152971/how-smart-super-prison-can-help-hong-kongs-wayward-youth-and-add?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Oct 2021 22:45:12 +0000 I expect the chief executive’s upcoming policy address will help Hong Kong people, younger generations in particular, to fully grasp the opportunities in Qianhai, as well as develop the local economy and people’s livelihood. Beijing’s planned expansion of Shenzhen’s Qianhai economic zone aims to accelerate the integration of Hong Kong into the Greater Bay Area. However, most local young people do not want to work there. This is despite an extensive publicity campaign by the Hong Kong government... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3149682/let-hong-kongs-young-people-help-create-qianhai-super-zone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3149682/let-hong-kongs-young-people-help-create-qianhai-super-zone?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Sep 2021 01:45:16 +0000 Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan recently delivered an impressive address which can inspire us to think about the way forward for Hong Kong as a smart city. Balakrishnan, who is also the minister in charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, spoke at a geospatial and location intelligence conference in March about how geospatial innovation has become “a critical dimension of Singapore’s Smart Nation journey”. The resulting “great synergy” made it more effective in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3131382/how-singapore-synergy-shows-way-forward-hong-kongs-smart-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3131382/how-singapore-synergy-shows-way-forward-hong-kongs-smart-city?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Apr 2021 06:30:05 +0000 Re-industrialisation, once a key government initiative, seems to have lost steam in Hong Kong. First mentioned in the 2016 policy address, it aims to automate or upgrade factory production processes using advanced information technology and automation. According to a report from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey, some US$3.7 trillion of extra value could be created by manufacturers and suppliers implementing re-industrialisation in their global operations by 2025. Since 2016, in addition to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3119423/three-steps-hong-kong-can-take-stop-spinning-its-wheels-re?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3119423/three-steps-hong-kong-can-take-stop-spinning-its-wheels-re?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Jan 2021 00:30:10 +0000 In times of epidemics, how are we to strike a balance between protecting personal privacy and maintaining public safety? Today, more than five billion people in the world have mobile devices, and many of them can’t live without their phones. They represent a huge data pool that many researchers could tap to help manage an infectious disease outbreak, or locate trapped and injured individuals after an earthquake. In 2017, GSMA, the association representing mobile operators worldwide, launched a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3052257/epidemic-can-we-balance-personal-privacy-and-public-safety?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3052257/epidemic-can-we-balance-personal-privacy-and-public-safety?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Feb 2020 01:00:11 +0000 In the era of smart cities, improvements are often heavily data driven. That is why data collection and sharing is the key to solving traffic congestion in the Hong Kong government’s smart city blueprint. Today, while some mobile apps update users with real-time traffic information, it is limited to submissions by subscribers. It is only possible to have a comprehensive picture of the traffic situation with open access to public data and sharing among private and public organisations. STEM... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127946/new-york-shows-open-data-key-smart-traffic-solutions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127946/new-york-shows-open-data-key-smart-traffic-solutions?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Jan 2018 07:04:46 +0000 Hong Kong’s smart city blueprint has just been released, and I am glad the government has recognised the importance of open data, and plans to open up more public and private sector digital data to facilitate research and innovation. But its pace could be faster. The world is experiencing a data-driven revolution. There were over 3.8 billion internet users in the world as of June 30, and global data storage is expected to grow to 40 trillion gigabytes by 2020. The internet of things means data... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2126132/hong-kongs-smart-city-dreams-can-move-faster-big-data?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2126132/hong-kongs-smart-city-dreams-can-move-faster-big-data?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Dec 2017 01:33:04 +0000 Smart cities need smart talent. However, in the internet age, old-fashioned teaching models in many schools fail to arouse students’ interest. Artificial intelligence can help, both for teachers busy with routine tasks, and for students who struggle with distractions. For instance, teachers’ routine tasks, like marking assignments, can be automated. Experimental results have shown that, using machine learning and predictive modelling, the scores from AI match human grades as much as 85 per cent... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2121786/artificial-intelligence-can-create-smarter-classrooms-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2121786/artificial-intelligence-can-create-smarter-classrooms-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Nov 2017 03:52:46 +0000 With air pollution representing a continuing public health issue, there are ideas of changing Hong Kong to a city full of pedestrian areas or cycling tracks. The pioneer for this idea is Copenhagen, Denmark. Today, it has more than 200 miles of cycling track, and car ownership is the lowest in Europe. Now the plan is to build 28 cycling thoroughfares to connect surrounding towns. The first opened in 2014, with 11 or more set for 2018. The city targets zero carbon emissions by 2025. In 2014,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2118288/how-can-hong-kong-be-more-walkable-here-are-five-examples?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2118288/how-can-hong-kong-be-more-walkable-here-are-five-examples?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Nov 2017 06:02:10 +0000 Education and talent were a focus of discussions about artificial intelligence and its influence on smart cities’ development, during the recent International Telecommunication Union forum, since AI and smart cities both face talent shortages. Universities are battlefields for acquiring talent. Google last year successfully recruited its AI Laboratory director – the famous Chinese professor Li Feifei who studies computer vision (teaching computers to interpret images) – from Stanford University.... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2116310/carrie-lams-pledge-invest-technology-smart-move-global-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2116310/carrie-lams-pledge-invest-technology-smart-move-global-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Oct 2017 05:03:12 +0000 When you’re driving and in a hurry, every red light can leave you more and more frustrated. According to a Texas A&M Transportation Institute report, in 2015 congestion caused Americans to spend on average 48 minutes on a drive that should take 20 minutes. In 1982, average road delays amounted to 18 hours in a year, and by 2014 it had more than doubled, to 42 hours. The institute estimated that the US used 3.1 billion gallons of gasoline and lost 6.9 billion hours due to congestion, resulting in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2114253/how-hong-kong-can-cut-traffic-congestion-invest-smart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2114253/how-hong-kong-can-cut-traffic-congestion-invest-smart?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Oct 2017 06:00:40 +0000 Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, in her upcoming policy address, should seek to unite the community and capture development opportunities. Her address should focus on four aspects of information technology, an increasingly important area for economic development. First, training for innovation and technology. Lam fulfilled her election campaign promise to allocate HK$5 billion more for education expenditure. Therefore, we hope to see improvements in science, technology, engineering... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2110318/smart-future-hong-kong-carrie-lam-should-emphasise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2110318/smart-future-hong-kong-carrie-lam-should-emphasise?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Sep 2017 02:01:45 +0000 The recent cyberattack by the ransomware cryptoworm WannaCry drew the world’s attention to network security. According to Kaspersky Lab, a network security software company, the number of online attacks detected in the first quarter of 2017 doubled to more than 400 million, compared with the same period in 2016, while over 200,000 mobile phones were infected by ransomware Trojans, which is 10 times the first quarter of last year. Unfortunately, antivirus software may not be able to protect your... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2103574/antivirus-dead-young-talents-are-hong-kongs-first-line?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2103574/antivirus-dead-young-talents-are-hong-kongs-first-line?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Jul 2017 04:02:38 +0000 A government survey in 2013 put the number of people with disabilities in Hong Kong at around 600,000, some 10 per cent of the total population . These people are also often in low-income groups, as it is difficult for them to find jobs. In Hong Kong, over 500,000 are unemployed, or more than 80 per cent of people with disabilities. Technology can not only help them make a living and improve their lives, but also boost the economy. Disability charity Scope UK estimates that employing 1 million... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2090842/how-technology-can-restore-dignity-people-disabilities-while?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2090842/how-technology-can-restore-dignity-people-disabilities-while?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Apr 2017 01:01:24 +0000 Parents are extraordinarily anxious today. The media keeps talking about how some occupations will become obsolete and jobs will be lost. Professor Richard Susskind, a futurist, IT expert and lawyer, co-authored The Future of the Professions with his economist son. They suggested that technology such as telepresence and artificial intelligence could make expert advice so easily available that many of the currently highly respected professions, like doctor, teacher, accountant and even pastor,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2073040/coding-language-progress-and-hong-kong-needs-master-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2073040/coding-language-progress-and-hong-kong-needs-master-it?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Feb 2017 06:15:15 +0000 About two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by 2050, according to the UN. The increase in demand for services in these areas will pose great challenges to governments. To meet them, we need smart and sustainable urban planning, and strategies that ensure prosperity is shared among all social classes. Big Data becoming necessary for ‘survival’, say experts, but Asian firms lagging behind in its use How can we put these ideas into practice? How can we foster innovative... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2047924/hong-kong-needs-data-revolution-very-top?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2047924/hong-kong-needs-data-revolution-very-top?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Nov 2016 08:17:32 +0000 More and more citizens see the need to advance Hong Kong as a “smart city”, and have contributed ideas to its development. However, some have raised a fundamental question: do we have enough talent to implement the plan? Smart people are, of course, key to a smart city. We need people to run a hi-tech city and drive future growth. For a long time, Hong Kong’s engineering and technology faculties have had difficulty in enrolling top-grade high-school leavers. These students prefer to go into... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2001305/innovate-hong-kong-needs-groom-more-top-scientists-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2001305/innovate-hong-kong-needs-groom-more-top-scientists-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Aug 2016 06:12:28 +0000 The Hong Kong government has scheduled a public consultation later this year to formulate a blueprint for smart city development. Actually, national governments and cities around the world are investing in this. In mainland China alone, more than 300 smart city pilot schemes are planned, all aiming to address the challenges of how to move people and things around; how to provide energy; how to keep people safe when more and more people are moving into cities from the countryside. Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1993294/hong-kong-cannot-become-smart-city-without-its-peoples-buy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1993294/hong-kong-cannot-become-smart-city-without-its-peoples-buy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jul 2016 05:32:57 +0000 With Octopus entering the battlefield, smartphone payment in Hong Kong is flourishing, with numerous operators, from telecoms providers and credit card companies to mobile manufacturers and mainland payment giants. In addition, Jetco has just launched a peer-to-peer interbank platform. With the payment systems ordinance introduced last year, people have high expectations for mobile payments in Hong Kong; the service has been thriving on the mainland for a number of years. Looking around the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1948521/how-mobile-payment-technology-could-pay-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1948521/how-mobile-payment-technology-could-pay-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 May 2016 02:01:06 +0000 The public consultation on retirement protection has attracted overwhelming social attention. A reliable and balanced retirement scheme is important to our society, but equally crucial is the government’s technology drive for a better economy. In this way, Hong Kong will be better equipped to face a host of challenges. As an advocate of Hong Kong’s information technology development, I have some suggestions for the upcoming policy address and budget. First, Hong Kong needs to be a smarter city.... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1899867/hong-kong-needs-tech-upgrade-diversify-its-ailing-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1899867/hong-kong-needs-tech-upgrade-diversify-its-ailing-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jan 2016 05:40:11 +0000 Many say the sharing economy is only for young people. A US survey found that 68 per cent of workers in the sharing economy are between 18 and 34, while that age group constitutes merely a third of the US workforce, according to the Bloomberg research. Here in Hong Kong, regulatory issues remain one of the main hurdles for local entrepreneurs There is no official definition of the “sharing economy”. However, it generally refers to activities organised around a technology platform that facilitate... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1891344/hong-kong-regulators-must-not-stifle-citys-fledgling-sharing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1891344/hong-kong-regulators-must-not-stifle-citys-fledgling-sharing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Dec 2015 08:14:51 +0000 China is engaged in a historically unprecedented effort to develop its robotic technology industry as it tries to catch up with the global leaders. At Alibaba’s Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza this year, for example, the sales of one model of a vacuum-cleaning robot jumped to 315 million yuan (HK$380 million), double last year’s sales and 150 times that of 2011. READ MORE: China’s top leaders add political weight to robot conference Service robots assist human beings, typically by performing... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1885497/rise-machines-chinas-robotics-market-can-only-grow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1885497/rise-machines-chinas-robotics-market-can-only-grow?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Dec 2015 09:00:30 +0000